Militant Responsible for Benghazi Attack Captured

On September 11th, 2012, members of Ansar al-Sharia attacked the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, killing U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens, U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, and two CIA contractors, Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty.

Five years later, on October 30th, 2017, U.S. officials reported that special operations forces have captured a militant who was instrumental in the attack, reported AP.

Officials say U.S. commandos captured Mustafa al-Imam on the north coast of Libya. They have taken the militant to a U.S. Navy ship at the Misrata port for transport.

The official said al-Imam is being taken now to the United States. However, the official also said he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.

AP also reports that the mission was approved by President Donald Trump. Special forces performed it in coordination with Libya’s internationally recognized government.

At the time, the attack rocked the American people. It led to multiple congressional investigations to determine what went wrong, whether it could have been stopped, and whether the Obama administration misled the public on the details of the bloody assault.

For example then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was criticized for denying requests for additional security at the consulate prior to the attack. Eventually, she took responsibility for the security lapses.

In 2016, the attack was turned into the movie “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. The film followed the six members of the Annex Security Team who fought to defend the compound.

Please pray that this helps the families of the deceased to heal. They have already experienced such grief from their loss.